Court in Fiji approves U.S. warrant to grab Russian-owned mega-yacht

Fiji's High Courtroom on Tuesday dominated that a huge Russian-owned yacht may be seized by U.S. authorities.

American and Fijian officers declare the Cayman Islands-flagged Amadea is the property of Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch who built his fortune on gold mining. Kerimov was sanctioned in March by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

But an attorney who represents Millemarin Investments, the company the $325 million ship is registered to, stated it isn't owned by Kerimov. Instead, he argued in courtroom that corporate paperwork traces the ship's possession to Eduard Khudainatov, a former government at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil firm who has not been sanctioned. 

Kerimov and Khudainatov couldn't be reached for comment. The company intends to appeal Tuesday's choice.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, based on local stories and the maritime analytics website Marine Traffic. Quickly after, a federal choose authorised a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's high prosecutor moved to forestall the ship from leaving.

The Division of Justice could not instantly be reached for comment. 

On April 4, the agency announced that Spanish authorities had assisted it in seizing one other Russian yacht, the $90 million Tango, which was owned by Viktor Vekselberg, the proprietor of the Russian conglomerate Renova Group.

Legislation handed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would allow the U.S. to sell the yacht and different properties worth more than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs as a way to fund the Ukrainian warfare effort. President Joe Biden supports the bill, which has but to go the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and different ill-begotten beneficial properties," Biden mentioned on April 28 on the White House.

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and data security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com